My personal experiences with the working method “blog”

Well, it is not so easy to come to a conclusion concerning the suitability of a blog in school lessons. Therefore I will initially expound negative and positive aspects of this working method before taking a decision.

First the negative aspects:

The main negative aspect is, as expected, the time exposure. It takes a lot of time to formulate a conclusive text written in high-level English and with varied vocabulary. Besides, the content of the text has to be well thought out, too.

In addition, it hampered me that we could decided on our own how many entries we want to pass during the time we work on the novel. Sometimes I had a guilty conscience when I saw how many entries other students had passed and felt pressurised.

Another point is that it is hard to be enthusiastic about working with a blog when it is said to focus on special book read in school, especially when you are not interested in it. So, you have to deal with a book intensively although you think it is uninteresting and boring. In this case, it can lead to a kind of unwillingness concerning the blog-work, which is of course not beneficial with regard to the working process and the results. But also when you are initially not averse to the novel, after considerable time you can become stressed out by it.

Now the positive ones:

First of all, working with a blog helps to deal intensively with a special topic (in our case: the novel ‘Heat and Dust’). While authoring blog entries, you have to dwell on special passages, relationships or characters. This helps you to detect the author’s intention or special coherences. In brief, the blog gives rise to a better comprehension of the topic/the book which is helpful, especially for the Abitur.

Furthermore, I have experienced that working with the blog can help to improve your language and your vocabulary, especially when you want to write about the topic you worked on in your blog. This has to do with the fact that there are a couple of words you have to use very often in connection with a special topic/book. So, even if you did not know these words before, you keep them in mind due to frequent practice. Particularly, I noticed this during the Klausur. This time I had to look up less vocabulary than in the Klausuren before, which really was a time saver. Additionally, while working with a blog you learn authoring understandable and convincing texts, which is advantageous in many respects.

Another positive aspect is that you can reread the blog time and again in order to call in mind the most important facts. This can be hugely useful when you have to repeat all the subject matter at the end of 13. Aside from that, it is helpful that also other students can read your blog-entries and leave a comment to evaluate your work (in this connection I think the ‘learning partner’ thing is rather beneficial).

Creating a blog in the LK is also a good possibility to show your skills, especially when you are, like me, not so talkative in the lessons

 

My conclusion:

Weighing the pros and cons I come to the conclusion that working with a blog in the English lessons makes much sense, although it is very much work. The pedagogical benefit is rather huge and in general it is very helpful not just in school but also in respect of other scopes. Nevertheless, it somehow depends on the person whether it is useful or not. In some extent, you have to be diligent and also ambitious because otherwise you lag behind and have to do all the work the day before the completion date, which is not beneficial at all.

So, on the whole, I think creating a blog focussing on “Heat and Dust” was profitable but, to be honest, in spite of that I’m totally happy to have finished it.

Film review “Heat and Dust”

In general, I always disliked watching the film version of a book after having read it because it invariably destroys your imaginations concerning the characters, the setting etc.

 

So it did again when I watched the film “Heat and Dust”. The actor representing Harry in the film for example resembled not a bit my imagined Harry. Instead of being a full-figured, small man, he was young and attractive and therefore did neither correspond to the description in the book, nor to my imagination.

 Besides, I also visualized Anne, in the book the nameless ‘narrator’, differently. I did not think that she would be so good looking because in the book she describes herself as “tall and flat-chested” (p.15, ll.2-3) and is often compared with a transvestite. In the film, she appears like a modern, self-confident women knowing what she wants, but in the book she seems as naïve as Olivia especially when she offers her body to Chid. (By the way, this relationship between the narrator (Anne) and Chid came off badly in the film.)

Also the way the Nawab was depicted did not really answer my expectations. Although his authority was more or less shown in the film, just a few of his character’s attributes were demonstrated. To take a single example, his charming manner especially towards Olivia was not as emphasised as in the book and generally the development of the relationship between both was not really pointed out.

Moreover, Majid’s character was not of such an importance like in the book, were she played a significant role in the narrator’s life. In the film version she is not the mythological figure helping the narrator to cope with her life in India but just any old Indian midwife, wanting to perform an abortion on her. So to speak, she fades into the background of the story.

 

However, there were also positive aspects concerning the character’s depiction. Particularly, choosing Greta Scacchi to play the role of Olivia Rivers was in my view absolutely appropriate. The beautiful actress succeeded in representing the naïve, credulous British women being utilised by an imperious Indian prince.

Additionally, Inder Lal’s presentation in the film I found even more pleasant than the image I had while reading the book. The actor was quite handsome and depicted Inder Lal like and likable, alert Indian landlord, being attracted by his pretty English lodger.

 

A peculiarity of the film which irritated me was that several aspects differ from the book’s plot. For instance, I wondered why in the film the narrator/Anne was Marcia’s daughter instead of Tessie’s. I did not see the reason for this alteration.

Furthermore, the film does not really dwell on the relationship between the British and the Indian society, like the book does.

On the whole, I detect that the film skims over important aspects and scenes of the book which would have been worth mentioning; especially these ones showing the life of the British in India, as for example the narrator’s encounter with the women in the S.M. hostel.

 

All these aspects considered I am not enthusiastic concerning the film “Heat and Dust”. The film is not really bad but quite superficial in comparison to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s novel. Nevertheless, the viewer can gain a small insight with regard to the Anglo-Indian life in the 1920s and the 1970s.

Review and comment

Liked it but wished it were more., September 6, 2001

By	John C. Shaw (HOUSTON, TEXAS USA) -

I really did enjoy the book for the most part. It was fun light reading. My trouble with the book is that it could have been so much more. Both female characters could have had whole novels written about them but we never get beyond of the surface of either one of them. You got a favor of the riches and depavity of old Indian culture but no details. Again my major fault is not that the book was bad but that the book itself hinted at what it could be but wasn’t.

source: http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0671646575/ref=cm_cr_pr_link_1

 

 

 My comment on this statement/review:

I agree almost completely with the review’s author. In my opinion, the book wasn’t very interesting but nevertheless easy to read and to understand. In a way, while reading the book, I wanted to know how the story will continue.

But on the other hand, I think that there is too little tension in both stories. A good example for this is the ending: Usually, a book’s ending is very important. It most often clears up almost all the open questions and completes the story in a way which causes sadness of the reader due to the fact, that the book has come to and end. (Anyway, so do the endings of the books I read.)

Consequently, I’m a bit disappointed about the ending of “Heat and Dust”. It was absolutely boring, although there would have been many possibilities to conclude the story in an interesting way. To quote the review’s author: “it could have been so much more”.

Alternative ending

“When Olivia left the hospital , she felt relieved and…”

“… pursued the way back home, because it was the only place coming to her mind while thinking where she should go. On the way, she dwelled on her situation, the extent the consequences of her fling with the Nawab and what Harry had told her about the Nawab’s attitude towards the baby. Realizing that she can’t stay neither with Douglas nor with the Nawab having used her for his purposes, she started packing her things immediately after her arrival at Douglas’ and her house. About the fact that Douglas was absent, Olivia was even happy and relieved because she knew she couldn’t bear looking into his sad and disappointed eyes. So she left without leaving a message and took the next ship to England. Although she knew that she would miss Douglas dreadfully, she was aware of the fact that living her own life far away from the Nawab, the Anglo-Indian society and also Douglas would be the only possibility to come to terms with herself and her life. Maybe one day, Olivia considered, she would return and search for Douglas in order to talk with him about her elopement with the Nawab and all the other things which went wrong. But til then, a lot of time would pass by…”

Comment on my alternative ending:

I know that my invented alternative ending is very unrealistic with regard to the time in which the the story took place and Olivia’s quite naive character. Nevertheless, I chose this ending because I think it would be the only reasonable solution for Olivia’s awkward situation. Anyhow, it would have been a better solution than spending the rest of your life lonely in an unknown town in the mountains.

20 useful vocabulary (pp.145-165)

• shrink from sb – vor jmd. zurückschrecken
• strictures – scharfe Kritik
• bracket sb. with sb. – jdn. mit jmd. gleichsetzen
• petulant – launisch
• be becoming to sb. – suit to sb.
• mark sb. down as sth. – think of sb. as sth.
• bedraggled – ungepflegt
• be commissioned for sth. – mit etwas beauftragt sein
• dispose of sth. – get rid of sth.
• deferential – respektvoll
• dwell on sth. – think about sth. for a long time
• be accustomed to sth. – be used to sth.
• abhorrence – Abscheu
• to pluck up courage – Mut fassen
• take charge of sth. – Verantwortung für etw. übernehmen
• discharge obligations – Verpflichtungen nachkommen
• harassment – Belästigung, Schikanierung
• commend sb./sth. – praise sb./sth.
• reconcile sb./sth. with sb./sth. – jdn./etw. mit jdn./etw. in Einklang bringen
• detract from sth. – etw. beeinträchtigen

The life after the scandal (pp.154-165)

Olivia’s life after her elopement:

After her pretended miscarriage, Olivia went directly to the Nawab’s Palace. She never returned neither to Douglas nor to England. She stayed, probably her all the rest of her life, in a house in the mountains the Nawab had bought for her. The town where she lived and spent her days after the scandal is only called town X.

In general, there are just a couple of information given the book concerning Olivia’s life after her elopement. This might have to do with the fact that the Nawab did not speak much about her at that time. Furthermore, Olivia’s letters to her sister Marcia became shorter and more impersonal until the correspondence stopped completely after the Nawab’s death, even though Olivia became 6 years older than he became.

When the narrator inspects Olivia’s former house in the mountains, she assumes that Olivia’s way of living was not very different from her life in Satipur or London. The style in which the rooms were arranged were absolutely typical of her and the pieces of piano music the narrator discovered were still the same as in former times.   

 

The Nawab’s last years:

At the age of 50, the Nawab met Harry again in London. The Indian prince was very obese and suffered from high blood pressure. Not just physically, but also mentally he had changed a lot. He was softer and milder and had quite a lot problems. In 1923, a committee of enquiry had decided that prospectively, a prime minister should take charge of Khatm’s affairs. Therefore the Nawab stayed seldom in Khatm and preferred to spend his time with Olivia or later with Harry and his friend Fergie.

Particularly, the Nawab’s problems were financial ones, because he had not only to aliment his mother, his wife Sandy and Olivia, but also his companions in the Palace. Hence, he asked the British authorities for an increase of his income but they refused his request. This is the reason why the Nawab came to London; he was in quest for higher authorities who should help him to accomplish his wish. Thus, he attempted to make as many appointments as he could. When he was not spending his time  with Harry and Fergie, the Nawab usually spend his afternoons in famous restaurants.

Then, approximatelely at the age of 65, the Indian Prince had a fit of apoplexy and died, in New York in the old Begum’s Park Avenue apartment, in his mother’s arms.

The various facets of Majid’s character (pp.149-152)

In this section (pp.149-152), Majid’s spiritual nature is shown. By meditating, she reaches a higher level of consciousness and seems to be totally immersed in her rapture. Reawaken out of this state of meditation, she appears a kind of emotionally charged. Her eyes shine and her cheeks glow as if a great quantity of energy has run through her.

Again, Maji offers the narrator her services as midwife which means that she offers to perform an abortion on her. When the narrator agrees impulsively, Maji begins to massage her womb area after having darken the room. In the subdued light, the mystical woman reminds the narrator of a powerful Indian goddess. Instead of hurting her, the touches of Majid’s hands have a beneficial and calming effect on the narrator. Anyway, the narrator cancels the procedure due to the feeling of bliss she has with regard to her pregnancy and which she wants to keep.

After having ceased from handling the narrator’s abdomen, Majid takes off her mystical disposition. Thereupon she is again the a little filthy, motherly, old women.

Accordingly, this passage shows Majid’s singularity as well as her multifaceted character.  

The Nawab’s attitude to Olivia’s baby (pp.147-149)

To my mind, the Nawab’s attitude towards Olivia’s baby is a quite selfish one. First of all, he does not for a moment doubt that the baby was his. Being overconfident, he never thinks about the consequences for Olivia. He for instance never worries about the fact  that Olivia could be expelled from the Anglo Indian society and that her reputation could be damaged when it gets out that she has a baby of an Indian prince.

Instead, he regards the baby as a possibility to give Douglas and his other opponents a wipe. From my perspective, for the Nawab Olivia’s baby is just a means to an end. Besides, I am not even quite sure whether the Nawab’s affection towards Olivia was/is a true one or not.

In my view, the Nawab seems to be fairly calculating. Maybe it was the challange to seduce an English district officer’s wife which attracted him. An another possibility is that the affair with Olivia should answer the purpose to hurt his adversary Douglas. I am not quite sure.

Anyhow, I think that it gives the impression that the Nawab worries more about his own intentions than about the baby’s and its mother’s wellbeing.  

                                          

20 useful vocabulary (p.121-p.140)

• scornful -verächtlich, höhnisch
• to be hand in glove with somebody – mit jmd. eng zusammenarbeiten
• strive for sth. – nach etw. streben
• subdue sb. – jmd. unterdrücken, überwältigen
• to reveal sth. – etw. offenbaren
• stumbling block – Hindernis
• acrimonious – erbittert, böse
• gaze – intensiver Blick
• infuriate sb. – jmd. wütend machen
• despise sb. – jmd. verachten
• to your heart’s content – wie es einem gefällt
• in vain – vergeblich
• jurisdiction – Zuständigkeitsbereich
• conceal sth. – etw. verstecken
• penchant – Schwäche
• reverence – Ehrfurcht
• presumption – Annahme, Vermutung
• casual – beiläufig
• dismissive – abweisend
• downcast – niedergeschlagen

Parallels: Olivia and narrator

While reading the novel „Heat and Dust”, the readership notices quite fast that the two stories (the one dealing with the narrator’s experiences during her research in India, the other with Olivia’s life in the 1920s) show lots of parallels. The most obvious parallels between both stories can be discovered with regard to the protagonists’ love life.

Both British women, the narrator and Olivia, visit India for the first time albeit for different reasons. Moreover, both initially feel kind of uncomfortable in this country because they have difficulties in becoming assimilated to the Indian [British] society.

During her abidance in India, Olivia gradually falls in love with the Nawab although both are married and a relationship between a British lady and an Indian was much proscribed in those times. The scandal increases when Olivia gets pregnant of the Nawab and eventually has an abortion.

About 50 years later, the narrator almost suffers the same fate as her distant relative: she becomes in fond of her landlord, the Indian government officer Inder Lal.

Also this love can be called a “forbidden” love because Inder Lal has a wife (being mentally ill likewise the Nawab’s wife) and several children. Nevertheless, the narrator becomes pregnant, too. Not knowing how to react in this awkward situation, she wants Maji to perform an abortion on her but ultimately, contrary to Olivia, she decides to keep the baby despite the difficult circumstances.